Stepladder



Aug. 29, 1933. I

STEPLADDER W. P; NEWMAN Filed Oct. 17, 1929 I I I: I I I; l a ll II ll,ll' l J LLJ wawwmm Patented Aug. 29,. 1933 STEPLADDER,

a ,William NewmanfBucyriispQhio a A I Applicationoctober 17, 1929.Serial No. 400231;;

,1 Claim. (oi. 228-:31),

} This invention relates to improvements instep ladders. v

It is well known tousers of step ladders of the conventional type, thatit is very dangerous to use such step ladders at difierent places andfor are all linked together, so that -the .personwho,

spreads the ladder'for use can impart simul-' taneous outward movementto all of the parts movement for collapsing the links for foldingcompact form for storage or the like. v V e A further object of theinvention is to provide means for holding the link bar connections atone end below their connections to the stepladder and auxiliary partsthereof, when'the ladder and auxiliary parts are setup and spread foruse,

'; Another object of thepresent invention is to provide means forlinkingall movable parts of the ladder together by a simple, durable, andeflicient mechanism. which links, all the movable brace supports and themovable parts of the ladder to provide means for imparting movement toall simultaneously, when any movable .part of the ladder is manipulatedfor the purpose of spreading it for use or folding it for any purpose.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for speedily,conveniently and simultaneously folding the parts of theladder togetherfor storage or spreading the parts of the ladder for use, withoutassembling anyoftheparts of the ladder by the use of tools.

I attain these and other objectsby the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in whichr Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stepladder, showing my invention applied thereto, and in position for use. v1 a V Figure 2 is a front elevation of a step ladder.

when the step ladder is in use, and the invention or controlling meansof the parts in dotted lines when the controlling means is in its foldedposition. 1

Figure 3 is a plan view of the invention or conpreparatory to using theladder and inward showing my invention applied thereto,'in full lines,

trolling means, showing thelink barsv pivotally attached to movableparts of the ladder for ifn; parting movement thereto taken on the line1-1 of Figure 1. V

.In the drawing, thestep member of": a' con ventional type of stepladder'is indicated side, members land 2 and the steps 3.

Rear braces4'and4' are pivotally attached to the step member bybrackets5, pivoted onpins Bifurcated or ear portions '7 are provided on the;sides of brackets15, andlateral brace supports 8 they are pivotallyconnected theretoby" pins v9 which provide means forhswinging; thelateral brace supports toward and away from the sides .of the ladder. vv

a 'It will be noted that when the lateral brace supports are positionedin theposition shownin Figure 2, that the ladder'ispreventedfrom havinga tendency to fall in lateral directions or to tremare'inser'ted betweenthe bifurcated portionsand w ble, shivenor walk, as is incident to theuse of w a conventional type of step ladder. The stepladder standsfirmly on all supports or legs, andits liability tovibrate andtrer'rible, or walk, and

it's lackfof equilibrium arecounte'r'act'ed when in use. bythe lateralbrace supports attachedto swing toward and from the sides of the ladder,No invention is claimed for the abovefdescribed parts except incombination as I theyare well known inxthe prior art. I f I 'It has beenfound that in order to get the, said beneficial results with convenienceand efiiciency to the user of the step ladder, that a means'for'controlling the movable parts of the step ladder i, simultaneously, fromany movable part of the step ladderfmust be employed to movethe parts inunison for use for folding or spreading same when not in use. Thecontrolling means for performing these results is constructed tooperatein combination with the step ladder partsand lateral bracesupports. The controlling means is constructed and applied to the partsof a conventional step ladder as follows:

Linkbrace bars loand 11 are provided and one of their ends are bent at12 and 13 and pivotally attached to the side members 1 and 2 of the stepladder, by pins 14 and 15. Their opposite ends are bent at 16 and 17 andare adapted to contact with each other' and are held in place byportionsof angular members 19 and 20. They of a pin 21. 'In opposedrelation, thereto, similar braces 22'and 23 are provided and pivotallyattachcd to the bracemembers 4 of the step lad der, by pins 24 and 25and pivotally held in place are pivotally held in place through themedium by portions of the angular members 26and 27 by a pin 28.

It will beobserved. that the said construction provides means forspreading the step member and rear brace'members' l, or folding themtogether as desired by the operator.

- To the other portions of angular members 19,

V 20, 26 and 27, straight link brace bar members 29 and 30 are pivotallyattached by pins 31 and 32.

The opposite ends 01' the bars 29 and'30 are pivot-.

ally attached, by pins 33 and 34, to the lateral brace supports 8.

It will be noted that the link brace bars are attached to all movableparts of the step ladder and lateral brace supports thereof, so that, ifone 7 their opposite ends are b ent to aline 'for pivotal 3 movementan'd'are attachedto pre-determine'd movableparts andbraces of the stepladder.

Attention isdirected to 'Fig. 2 of the drawing.

It will be noted that in this figure, the position 'of the controllingmeans as indicated by reference numeral 35 in full] lines which is" theposition of the ladder andits auxiliary lateral brace supportsassume,'when' the step ladder is used. The folded positio'nbf thecontrolling means is indicated by reference numeral 36 as indicated indotted lines, when not; in use, The folded position of the lateralbraces are also indicated indotted lines in said figure.

When it is desired to use the step ladder, move ment is imparted to anymovable part .of the stepladder' by pressure which is exerted thereon,and all of the movable members are then moved together simultaneously tothe fullline ofpositl-on as indicated in 35 of Fig. 2. When it isdesired to fold the step ladder for any purpose, the operation isreversed and a controlling meansas hereindescribed, is moved to thedotted line position as shown in 36inFig. 2;

It will be noted as shown in,Fig.f1,.that the connections of the linkbrace bars depend below their'connections brains to the movable"parts'of the step ladder, orin otherwords depend below the horizontalcenter thereof, to prevent same fromimoving upward. They are preventedfrommoving downward bya stop as, indicated in"37 whichprovidesa supportforthe bars 10 and 11,

and which'hold same in position rfor use. This stop is in theform of anL-shape'd bracket having the upright portion secured to an upright of Ithe step member of the ladder, and the outstanding portion or horizontalleg underlying the link 11 of the connection to receive and limitdownward movement of the link to maintain the center bracket below thecenter, allas clearly shown Fig. 2. If desired, a shelf can be securedto the step ladder, as indicated in 38,;and pivoted to the braces 4 inthe usualjmanner I'lhe shelf,,

however, is unnecessary unless desired for some specific reason. I

The construction and operation of the controlling means for parts of thestep ladder and safe, efficient and speedy means forsimultaneouslyfoldin'g the movable parts of the step ladder andauxiliary partstogether for storage or the like, or for spreading samefor use when desired. -Operation of .the step ladder and its auxiliary.parts can be performed from any posiauxiliary parts as described,provide a convenient,

angled sections arranged'to present spaced bars extending toward therespective parts of the ladder, 2. pair of links pivotallyconnected'between each set of, spaced barsprojecting toward the stepmember and bracing members, the links of i each pair diverging beyondthe center member'and being pivotallyconnected terminally to theuprights of the step member and bracing member respectively, a singlelink, pivotally connected between the bars' of the center member andprojecting toward and connected to the lateral braces,- and an L-shapedstop member having the upright thereof connected to one of the uprightsof the stepmember and the lateral portionthereof in position'tounderlieand receive one ofthe links connected to, the step member tolimit downward .movement of. such link andvthereby position all links ata downward inclination when" the parts of the step ladder are inoperative position to thus arrange the center bracket below the pivotalconnection of the/links with theladder partsr 1 WILLIAM P. NEWMAN.

